Last week, I was invited to the presidential villa to meet President Bola Ahmed Tinubu and Mallam Nuhu Ribadu, the National Security Adviser (NSA).

The reason given was that I am an “important Ogoni Stakeholder” and I was really surprised to have received such a flattering summons because I have been a vocal opponent of Tinubu since 2022.

OK so I made my way to this meeting on Tuesday alongside other senior Ogoni stakeholders. 

We were told that the government wanted to find out what it could do to persuade us and our brethren back home to support its interest in resuming oil operations on our ancestral turf.

Ogoniland quit producing oil in the early 1990s at the height of the Ken Saro Wiwa crisis – a very complicated situation that cannot be adequately summarised in a few newspaper paragraphs. But let me provide a potted history anyway for newcomers to this tragic story.

Saro Wiwa was the face of a robust campaign that focussed on Shell Petroleum’s environmental abuses. The Ogoni leadership was deeply divided. Some moderate Ogoni leaders (my late father Ignatius, for example) favoured negotiation with the authorities. Saro Wiwa and the youths he controlled favoured a more radical approach. 

Eventually, 4 blameless Ogoni chiefs – my uncles Edward Kobani, Albert Badey, Theophilus Orage and Samuel Orage – were murdered.

Some Ogonis blamed the Nigerian army for this fratricidal outrage. Others blamed Ken and his fans. The then head of state, General Sani Abacha, also regarded them as guilty; and they were executed.

Shell Petroleum, which was accused of colluding with the Federal Government, was forced to retreat. Numerous attempts to resolve the impasse have failed. The rift with Shell was never healed. Other companies that have expressed an interest in taking over from Shell have been rejected. And Ogoniland has yet to recover – politically, socially, financially, psychologically – from the trauma, bloodletting, bitterness and absence of significant economic activity.

Most members of the delegation that went to meet President Tinubu on Tuesday bear emotional scars linked to this sorry state of affairs.

I frequently find myself furiously dwelling on the fact that the bodies of my assassinated uncles have never materialised. If I feel like this, imagine how the children of the disappeared victims feel! Anyway, I applaud Mr President for including both pro- and anti-Ken individuals on his guest list and for appealing to all of us to put the past behind us and embrace the spirit of reconciliation.  

He urged Ogonis to set aside historical grievances and work together to achieve peace, development, and a clean environment.

“We cannot in any way rewrite history, but we can correct some anomalies of the past going forward. We cannot heal the wounds if we continue to be angry,” the president said.

I and most of the Ogonis I know feel neglected, marginalised and cheated. There has never been an Ogoni Governor, Deputy Governor, Chief Judge or Speaker of the State House of Assembly.

The President promised to prioritise peace, justice and the sustainable development of Ogoniland, then directed the NSA to coordinate inclusive negotiations with Ogoni leaders. The Rivers State Governor, Sir Sim Fubara, was also at this meeting and made all the right noises and sounded sincerely committed to working with us to enable Ogoniland to enjoy a brighter future. 

A separate meeting at the NSA’s office was immensely cordial, though too short (because it was quite late in the day) to accommodate those who had hoped for in-depth discussions about the best way forward.

The Chief Executive of NNPCL,  Mele Kyari, and Adeola Oluwatosin Ajayi, the DG of the DSS (who is married to a Rivers woman!) joined us and assured us of maximum cooperation.

I personally think, on reflection, that the best way forward is for Ogonis to create a detailed and sophisticated masterplan for our region, in conjunction with expert development consultants.

All that remains now is to keep one’s fingers tightly crossed that regular consultations at community level will ensue and that Mr President, the NSA, the NNPCL CEO, the DG DSS and our Governor will keep their promises and not try to be too clever by half!

I am trying my best to give all of the above the benefit of many doubts (my own doubts as well as doubts expressed by other Ogonis who don’t trust this government or ANY Nigerian government).

I will maintain an open mind. But I will be the first to complain very loudly if this project is not handled ethically and efficiently.